Review: Down with the Shine by Kate Karyus Quinn

Lennie always thought her uncles’ “important family legacy” was good old-fashioned bootlegging. Then she takes some of her uncles’ moonshine to Michaela Gordon’s annual house party, and finds out just how wrong she was.

At the party, Lennie has everyone make a wish before drinking the shine—it’s tradition. She toasts to wishes for bat wings, for balls of steel, for the party to go on forever. Lennie even makes a wish of her own: to bring back her best friend, Dylan, who was murdered six months ago.

The next morning gives Lennie a whole new understanding of the phrase be careful what you wish for—or in her case, be careful what wishes you grant. Because all those wishes Lennie raised a jar of shine to last night? They came true. Most of them came out bad. And once granted, a wish can’t be unmade…

Review:

This was a strange, weird and wondrous kind of read.

The story goes as this. Lennie is having a pretty terrible time since the death of her BFF, so she decides to honour her friend by crashing the biggest party with the best family moonshine around. As per tradition, you make a wish, you take a sip. It’s just what you do, the wishes don’t actually come true. Or do they? Little did Lennie know, but she’s been granting the drunken wishes of teenagers all night and man, are some of them pretty ridiculous.

At first I was a little unsure about this book, it was a little lag-gy at the being as the story was set up. Than it got weirder and weirder, and more hilarious and next thing I knew, I was loving it. I don’t want to say too much because half the fun is seeing all the weirdness and hilarity unfold as Lennie tries to figure out how to undo all the wishes before everything all goes to hell in a hand basket.

Just a quick note on the romance. In ways it was unnecessary, but also I loved, loved it. It was so silly and ridiculous and in the end, it was right up my alley. Lennie and Smith were angsty, but also so freak’n adorable sometimes.

Kate Karyus Quinn knows how to write a quirky story that’ll keep you on your toes. There’s an interesting twist and bits of a darker undertone throughout the book. The magical chaos and the weirdness is entertaining and this is a surefire read if you’re in need of some fun and strange.

“One doesn’t nap in the middle of a shit storm.”

{Thanks to HarperTeen & Edelweiss for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
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I can’t wait to read this!! I read her first book and I was SUPER impressed with the weirdness…. like how does one come up with that?? I did not LOVE the book, but it definitely made me curious about what else she would come up with. This one sounds a lot like Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future by A.S. King, which I loved. Great review… happy you liked it and I’m happy to hear that it’s funny bc I love funny!